Archive for July, 2013

Creatives, sewers, party planners, and friends who love producing things – there is an unbelievable space for you. http://makerylosaltos.com/ is a new shop opened in Downtown Los Altos full of felt, books, fabric, bunting, etc pretty much a heaven for someone like me. I haven’t checked out the studio, but I believe there is an embroidery machine, sewing machine, classes, and a typography machine.

Felt is sold by weight or in these cute containers:

I love that pairing since they are the colors of my son’s bedding. Fun banner over his new curtains!!

The Makery also sells turkish towels in every color. I had to get just one this time. Perfect for layering tablecloths! Also in addition to every color of washi tape, they also sell fabric tape. Great for a quick touch me up to a boring votive.

As I posted before, our backyard was a lot of dirt, glass, weeds, and dead grass when we bought our house a year ago. Once we cleaned up, laid grass, planted a small vegetable garden, I was surprised when I found more life than when we first moved in! In addition to johnny jump ups, snapdragons, and a plum tree we didn’t know would yield fruit, there were some very large leaves growing in one corner of our garden. My first thought was squash after seeing flowers appear with the meaty leaves.

Then when the squash turned round with curly branches, it looked more like a pumpkin. But knowing nothing about squash, watermelon, or pumpkins, I couldn’t be sure…

Until it turned orange!! Quarter below pumpkin for scale

Now I need to do my research to see how to keep these guys growing. As you can see from the picture above, there were heavy branches laying on the pumpkin when we were on vacation, and they literally left their mark!! I am hopeful that they stay till Halloween so that I can use them for carving because nobody in my family enjoys pumpkin pie. Or maybe I can bake a few for the neighbors.

Have you grown pumpkins before? Any pro tips to share with this accidental pumpkin grower?

I love holidays – and I love them even more as a Mom because doing crafts and preparing special dishes are a fun distraction. I was thrilled when I heard that Ball Jars was releasing blue jars and immediately knew which holiday I’d use them for first

And yes, I own about a trillion cupcake wrappers. I have always been a cupcake fan since I was a kid and friends and family members love buying the wrappers for me. Gotta get creative with using them!

We did a flag craft that was easier than it looks. Since my kiddos are 3 and 2, craft time needs to be quick when it comes to painting! I laid out lots of newspaper and then popsicle sticks with red, white, and blue paint. We practiced using our listening skills (ha!) as I told them to paint the first half blue, then the next part red, etc. Once those dried, we glued them together with a popsicle stick on the back, and they glued stars on the top. Really easy and a great decoration for my mantle.

This was the first year I hosted a party on the 4th. We usually do a block party at my childhood home, and I was lucky enough to know ahead of time that I’d need to stock up my party supplies for July.

My kids love colors and I had a great time scouring Pinterest to find cute meals for the 4th. I attempted to make a rectangle pizza for the first time. I laughed when it was finished as it didn’t look as amazing as I pictured in my head. That was also thanks to two giant bubbles in the middle of it. But it tasted great! I used blue potatoes that I sliced thin and quickly pan fried before adding to the pizza, and sliced pepperoni for the stripes.

Right now, my kids think yogurt is a special treat, so anytime they get it (especially with berries!) they think I’m the best. I was more than happy to prepare this plate for them. And no, I didn’t nibble the United States outline in the toast. I found some cute FEED cookie cutters at Target!

Whole Foods sometimes has cute chips for holidays, and I was able to score these all natural red, white, and blue veggie chips for snacks.

My little Patrick

And Alice

And these shoes. I mean…

We had an all American BBQ

And instead of making a cute hidden flag cake I had found on Pinterest, I decided to do something cooler. It was pretty hot the day before, and I didn’t feel like baking 5 cakes in my house that has no air conditioning. Ice cream cake it is! The homemade bunting is two fireworks straws, twine, and 3 different types of washi tape.

My kids have been to every fireworks show they’ve been able to see, and this year was no exception. It’s hard for them to stay up so late, and I’ve always got something to distract them. Glow bracelets work the best as it gets dark. They had no interest in the red vines or popcorn…mmm…more for the adults!!

Having fun before the fireworks begin

“Woah” after every blast

After our walk back to the car. I love the different necklaces and designs we made with the glow bracelets.

And of course I couldn’t pass up stars and stripes jammies – especially on sale!! Successful 4th for sure!!